MAY 10, 2015
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP)
Part of a New York nuclear power plant remained offline
Sunday after a transformer fire created another problem: thousands of gallons
of oil leaking into the Hudson River, officials said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said emergency crews were out on
the water near Buchanan trying to contain and clean up transformer fluid that
leaked from Indian Point 3.
"There's no doubt that oil was discharged into the
Hudson River," Cuomo said. "Exactly how much, we don't know."
It could be weeks before Indian Point 3 is reopened again,
said a spokesman for Entergy Corp., the plant owner.
The transformer at the plant about 30 miles north of midtown
Manhattan failed on Saturday evening, causing a fire that forced the automatic
shutdown.
Cuomo revealed Sunday that even after the blaze on the
nonnuclear side of the plant was quickly doused, the heat reignited the fire
that was again extinguished.
The governor said oil in the transformer had seeped into a
holding tank that did not have the capacity to contain all the fluid, which
then entered river waters through a discharge drain.
Joseph Martens, commissioner of the state Department of
Environmental Protection, said measures were taken to keep the oil from
spreading, including setting up booms over an area about 300 feet in diameter
in the water.
The cleanup should take a day or two, Cuomo said.
A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said
several thousand gallons of oil may have overflowed the transformer moat.
The reactor itself was deemed safe and stable, said Entergy
spokesman Jerry Nappi. The plant's adjacent Unit 2 reactor was not affected and
remained in operation.
The Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan supplies
electricity for millions of homes, businesses and public facilities in New York
City and Westchester County.
"These situations we take very seriously. Luckily this
was not a major situation. But the emergency protocols are very
important," Cuomo said Saturday. "I take nothing lightly when it
comes to this plant specifically."
The transformer at Indian Point 3 takes energy created by
the plant and changes the voltage for the grid supplying power to the state.
The blaze, which sent black smoke billowing into the sky,
was extinguished by a sprinkler system and on-site personnel, Nappi said.
He said a foam-like substance containing animal protein and
fat was used to put out the fire, leaving an oily sheen on the water that does
not harm the environment. He said he cannot confirm that fluid from the
transformer leaked beyond the holding tank until a probe is conducted.
It was not immediately clear what caused the initial
failure.
Officials did not know how long the 1,000-megawatt reactor
would be down. Nappi estimated it could be "a few weeks" before
Indian Point 3 reopened.
Cuomo said there had been too many emergencies recently
involving Indian Point. Unit 3 was shut down Thursday morning for an unrelated
issue — a water leak on the nonnuclear side of the plant.
"We have to get to the bottom of this," the
governor said.
In March, Unit 3 was shut down for a planned refueling that
took about a month.
Diane Screnci, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, said an agency inspector was at the site Sunday and the agency
would follow up as Indian Point assesses the affected equipment.
She said there was no impact on the public.
The environmental watchdog group Riverkeeper issued a
statement Sunday saying the latest Indian Point accident proves that the plant
should be closed for good.
Source:ap.com